The Fading Voices Of Alcatraz

The Fading Voices of Alcatraz

AuthorHouse

Chapter One

Located amid the cold and choppy waters of San Francisco Bay is the forbidding 22.86 acre island of Alcatraz. Often shrouded in fog, its history is shrouded in mystery and legend. Composed of greywacke sandstone and shale, it first featured very little vegetation. An eerie composition of sound would have been stirred by the whistling winds, pounding surf, and the chanting of the various species of nesting birds. Strong bay currents would have made the one and a quarter mile approach to the island uninviting. The island's first visitors would have been greeted by obstacles such as sheer cliffs, uneven terrain, and tidal pools. Over time, "she" has been shaped and tamed to a degree.

Prior to the 18th century, the Coast Miwok and Ohlone Indians inhabited the area. Their occupation of the area had existed for the previous 5,000 years. One can only imagine their unwritten accounts of the island. The island may have served as a temporary camp for hunting and fishing parties. Nesting birds would have been hunted and their eggs would have made for easy plunder. Schooling species of fish would have been abundant. Perhaps the frequently hostile conditions of the island could have been a place of solace. It is hard to imagine, but for those in a capsized boat the alternative of death in an icy cold bay or temporary sanctuary on the island would have been an easy decision. The long wait for rescue would have been surreal.

The Bay Area would subsequently be visited by European explorers and Russian sea otter hunting expeditions. The island would have been a prominent landmark or "buoy" of sorts to the visiting navigators. These foreign visitors conducted trade with the Ohlone and Miwok Indians. The natives were pivotal to their exploration and hunting in the area serving as guides and teachers. Life for the native Indians and use of Alcatraz Island would soon change.

On August 5, 1775, the Spanish packet ship San Carlos entered the bay. This visit would prove to be detrimental for the native people. For the island, it would give birth to her infamous name and lead to her development. La Isla de los Alcatraces or Island of the Pelicans, the name given first to Yerba Buena Island and then transferred. The name was given by Spanish Naval Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala. The bay was mapped and explored aboard the San Carlos' launch by Ayala's pilot, Don Jose de Canizares.

On August 12, 1775, La Isla de los Alcatraces was mapped by Canizares. Soon, an influx of Spanish settlers would occupy the area along with the introduction of Catholicism. A mission was established (Mission Delores which stands today as the oldest structure in San Francisco) and the native people were forced into compliance with the newly introduced religion. The native people either conformed to the new culture or fled the area to secure and practice their ancient ways. Alcatraz Island probably served as a temporary refuge for exiled natives as they escaped the influx.

The Spanish occupation would span from 1776-1821. Many military fortifications and early settlements would be built in the area. The labor would come primarily from the native people. This "labor" would hinge on the verge of slavery. Alcatraz would sustain through this period as the Spanish did not occupy nor fortify the island.

The Mexican era would span from 1822-1846. The Spanish were at war with France and during this time struggles for independence within several Spanish colonies occurred. The Mexicans won their independence in 1821. New Spain would be renamed Mexico and the migration of many to Mexico's new department called Alta California began. These newcomers were of Spanish and Mexican descent. They began calling themselves "Californios". Through the new transition of power, Alcatraz remained idle once more.

On April 20, 1846, William ("Julian") Workman, a prominent Englishman petitioned the Mexican California Governor Pio Pico for possession of Alcatraz Island. Workman and the Governor were friends. Workman was co-owner of a thriving cattle and agricultural ranch known as Rancho La Puente (located 20 miles east of present day Los Angeles). Upon his death, Governor Pio Pico would be laid to rest in the family cemetery at Rancho La Puente. On June 8, 1846, Workman was granted his petition of Alcatraz Island with the understanding that he was to erect a lighthouse on the island. Workman in turn immediately gave the island to his son-in-law Francis Temple. During the short ownership, a lighthouse was never built.

The Bear Flag Revolt began on June 14, 1846, as American pioneer settlers were disgruntled under the existing Mexican rule. This small group of Americans led by William Ide essentially claimed California in protest, from Mexico. A flag designed with the oversight of William L. Todd (the nephew of future Presidential wife and First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln) bore stripes, a star, a grizzly bear, and the words CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC. The flag was flown to mark the occasion, hence the name, "The Bear Flag Revolt." In 1911, the official flag of California was adopted bearing a similar design. Unbeknownst to the pioneers was the fact that a declaration of war had already been made between the United States and Mexico on May 13, 1846. On July 7, 1846, the Mexican-American War had begun. On February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded Alta California to the United States and the Mexican-American War was over.

During the midst of the Mexican-American War the 3rd Military Governor of California, Lt. Colonel John Charles Fremont had purchased Alcatraz Island. On March 2, 1848, Fremont paid to Temple the sum of $5,000.00 for what was referred to as "White" or "Bird" Island. Present day Alcatraz Island. The sale and title were witnessed by Secretary of State, W. H. Russell. The purchase had been made in the name of the U.S. government. After the war and a legal battle with Fremont, the U.S. Government had possession of Alcatraz Island. Fremont would go on to be the Republican Parties first Presidential candidate. He lost to James Buchanan (15th President of the United States, 1857-1861) in 1856.

California was admitted to the Union as the 31st state on September 9, 1850. Soon after the United States Government acquired Alcatraz Island, and just before statehood, the great California Gold Rush of 1849 began. The enormous influx of ships and people brought to light the dire need to fortify and protect the bay from foreign invasion. With vessel traffic in the bay at an all time high, the need for a lighthouse was a priority.

The firm of Gibbons and Kelly were contracted to build seven lighthouses throughout the Pacific Coast. Mr. Francis A. Gibbons and Francis X. Kelly, owners of the Baltimore, Maryland architectural firm contracted and dispatched the vessel Oriole. Loaded with supplies, she made the lengthy voyage around Cape Horn and on to San Francisco. Arriving on January 29, 1853, construction began upon the awaiting foundation which had been prepared in late 1852. A fifty-foot lighthouse and two-story cottage were completed by July of 1853. A fixed third-order lens arrived in October of 1853. The "Fresnel" lens was invented in 1822 by French physicist Augustine Fresnel. The fixed third-order lens was 4' 8" in height and burned a continuous whale oil lamp that consumed 7 ounces of oil per hour. What resembled a giant glass beehive could be seen up to 18 nautical miles (or 20.71 miles) out to sea. On June 1, 1854, the installation of the lens was completed and lit by the first lighthouse keeper, Michael Cassin. The first activated lighthouse on the Pacific Coast was operational on Alcatraz Island. Modifications and reconstruction would continue throughout the light's history. A fog bell, and later fog horns would be constructed on the island. Today, the last constructed lighthouse of 1909 stands at eighty-four feet tall and holds the distinguished title of being the oldest operational lighthouse on the West Coast.

On November 6, 1850, President Millard Fillmore (13th President of the United States, 1850-1853, and the last member of the Whig Party to hold that office) signed an executive order making Alcatraz Island government property and a military reservation. Lieutenant Zealous Bates Tower and the U.S. Corps of Engineers began the daunting task of transforming Alcatraz into a military fortification. The Post at Alcatraz or Fort Alcatraz as she would be known, along with Fort Point and Lime Point, formed the "Triangle of Defense." The mission of this defensive scheme was designed to protect the entrance of the bay, the "Golden Gate."

Lieutenant Zealous Bates Tower (January 12, 1819-March 20, 1900) was an 1841 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. In 1852 he was appointed as the Assistant Professor of Engineering at West Point. His first Civil War service was as Chief Engineer of Defenses at Fort Pickens, Florida. On November 23, 1861, and surrounding dates those defenses were tested by Confederate bombardment. The Fort held fast and strong. Tower would have a successful military career ultimately achieving the rank of brevet Major-General.

Brevet Second Lieutenant James Birdseye McPherson (November 14, 1828-July 22, 1864) would be the Corps of Engineers' superintending engineer at Alcatraz Island. He would oversee the construction of defenses at Alcatraz. An 1853 graduate of the United States Military Academy, McPherson graduated first in his class. Upon completion of his duties at Alcatraz, McPherson departed the island on August 1, 1861. McPherson would rise to the rank of General in the Union Army. General McPherson was a casualty at the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864. General McPherson would be the highest ranking Union officer to die in battle during the Civil War.

Construction on Alcatraz began in 1853, and continued until the Fort was garrisoned on December 30, 1859. The Fort consisted of a Citadel built of brick measuring 200 by 100 feet. There were two troop barracks (for 300 troops), three cell blocks (113 cells) and several batteries. In 1861 there were 85 cannon and 130 troops; by 1866 the island had 105 cannon and 146 troops. Fort Alcatraz would go through many transitions as a military fortification until 1933. Fort Alcatraz never had to fire her guns as an act of war in her 81 year military history.

On March 21, 1907, Fort Alcatraz became a military prison by order of the War Department. Its newly designated title; Pacific Branch, U.S. Military Prison would be changed in 1915, to become known as the Pacific Branch, U.S. Disciplinary Barracks. Despite the title, the island was already familiar to the role of imprisonment. From within their own ranks were the first prisoners. During the Civil War, Confederate soldiers were held as Prisoners of War along with Confederate sympathizers. After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Confederate sympathizers caught celebrating, served sentences of two months at Alcatraz. In the 1880's, America's West experienced the Indian Wars. Indians from various tribes deemed as threats by the U.S. Government were imprisoned at Alcatraz. Some transferred, some died, and some were returned to society after being deemed as reformed. Alcatraz would hold Prisoners of War from the Spanish-American War and World War I to include conscientious objectors. In 1906, Fort Alcatraz would assist the city of San Francisco by evacuating 176 inmates from the city jails to the island prison. These inmates would spend 9 days on the island due to the massive San Francisco earthquake of 1906. During this period the United States Army helped to restore the city of San Francisco in wake of the natural disaster. Alcatraz received the much needed service of cable communication during this period of reconstruction.

The Pacific Branch, U.S. Military Prison experienced an explosive growth in population. To accommodate the demand, the upper citadel was torn down in 1909. In 1912, a new cellhouse was completed. Having been built over the Citadel's old basement and moat, the island boasted a new prison facility with four cell blocks and 600 cells. There was a hospital, kitchen, dining area, recreation yard, and administrative offices. Sky lights, electricity, and steam heat were but a few of the new comforts and technological advances implemented into the new design. At the time, she was the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world. Much of the granite used in the construction was imported from China. The construction was done with the use of contractor and prison labor with oversight by Major Reuben Turner, a construction engineer. Obscured by the construction of the new cell house, a new lighthouse was constructed in 1909. The old lighthouse had been damaged by the earthquake of 1906. In place of the fifty-foot tower was a new eighty-four-foot tower and accommodations for three keepers and their families.

Early conditions of the prison were primitive and hinged on cruelty. Each prisoner was "cut from the same cloth." Uniforms were made of a course material and each prisoner wore a black hat. The black hats bare a colored cord that indicated the prisoner's behavioral classification. Prisoners that posed an escape risk were required to wear a ball and chain that was secured around the ankle. This practice earned the nickname, "carrying the baby" as prisoners would lug the 24 pound ball in their clutches from one place to another. A standard cell was 8' long by 3' wide by 6' tall. For the "hard cases" there were the solitary confinement cells that were in the "dungeons" which was located in the basement of the old citadel. The confines of these cells would have been a true hell and torment. Cold, damp and dark, these confines would have broken the most incorrigible of men both physically and mentally. The use of the "dungeons" as they were called would be challenged during the era of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (1934-1963).

In 1933, at the conclusion of the Great Depression (1929-1933), the military concluded that the high cost to operate the prison was too much. Water, fuel, food, and other supplies had to be imported to the island. Prohibition had introduced organized crime as it had never been seen before. Mobsters and gangsters made national headlines as they rose to power. The solution was Alcatraz Island. An agreement was contracted between the Secretary of War and the Bureau of Prisons. January 1, 1934, thru March 21, 1963, marked the era of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at Alcatraz Island. On June 19, 1934, the United States Army departed Fort Alcatraz, thus beginning the era of the United States Penitentiary at Alcatraz Island. U.S.P Alcatraz Island is the main subject of this book noted with detail and depth in the ensuing chapters.

Following the closure of the federal penitentiary in 1963, a four hour occupation of the island occurred on March 8, 1964, when it was claimed by the Sioux Indians. On November 9, 1969, another occupation and claim was made. Led by the Mohawk Indian Richard Oakes, claim to the island was made for the "Indians of All Tribes." An offer of twenty-four dollars in beads, colored cloth, and trade goods was made to the government. The offer matched that of the 1626 purchase of Manhattan Island (New York) by its foreign visitors, the "white man." The occupation at its peak was over a hundred Native Americans representing various tribes. Negotiations ensued with the federal government. Offers were made and rejected. Many of the occupiers left the island over the drawn out course of time. On June 11, 1971, nineteen months of Indian occupation came to an end when Federal Marshals assisted by the U.S. Coast Guard removed all the remaining occupants.

Alcatraz Island became a part of the National Parks Service on October 12, 1972, when Congress created the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. On June 23, 1976, Alcatraz Island was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Alcatraz Island had served an essential role in U.S. history, primarily in a role of security. On January 17, 1986, she received her own well earned security when she was designated as a National Historic Landmark. Alcatraz Island is a tourist destination to over a million visitors a year. By day she is alive with buzzing activity but at night she rests. Tranquility comes over her as she remembers a time when her most frequent visitors were the birds.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from The Fading Voices of Alcatraz by Jerry Lewis Champion Jr. Copyright © 2011 by Jerry Lewis Champion Jr.. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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